Katrina
I found this by Patch Adams, reflecting what has been coming up in me during and since Hurricane Katrina...
- We condemn the racism inherent in the Katrina tragedy. All who are poor or middle class of this country can see what little regard our government has for their care and should support those who are the people's servants, not the corporations' police.
- We consider the environmental disasters of draining the wetlands, and of our government’s refusal to be concerned for global warming, as part of the Katrina tragedy. This must be addressed.
- We deplore how the President and his regime (with the help of the mass media), are trying to shift attention away from their failures in this situation, to the incidents of lawlessness and looting. The shame of Bush's announcement to "shoot to kill" all looters fits in well with the fake Christianity displayed by Pat Robertson's call the week before to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (who has been elected democratically 7 times by his people).
- We indict a mass media that is now withdrawing its (and our?) attention away from the Katrina tragedy, considering it 'old news'. Beware of the fickle attention the mass media will now pay to the Katrina tragedy. What about the sufferings of the displaced people—not 'sensational' enough? What about making significant changes in FEMA, to insure such a social tragedy never happens again? What about addressing racism, systemic poverty? Let us all keep paying attention as a political act.
- We feel this is an ideal time for all of us to become outspoken about two of the criminal examples of our government's service to wealth—the war in Iraq, and the 1.7 trillion dollar tax cut to the rich. If we stopped the war, and stopped granting privileges to the rich, we could easily rebuild the effects of the hurricane and flooding, and take a step to correct the disaster of a loss of the government of the people and by the people.